Lamb chops with crushed minted peas and feta cheese

 

This is the perfect way to showcase tender and succulent Lamb loin chops, cooked to perfection on the outside patio Barbecue, or in your kitchen in the frypan.  Not much adornment, a simple approach, delivering maximum flavours, with just a fresh herb and vegetable side of peas, mint, pine nuts, and feta cheese. 

Minimal ingredients are involved with this recipe, but it's super tasty and satisfying. Simple is best here during the heat of a tropical Summer. This is the way of it for a mid-week barbecue. 

 Please feel free to serve this meal with an extra green crisp leafy salad or a vegetable of your choice, and a cooked grain or potatoes if you are especially hungry, but I didn't need anything else. Lamb chops with mint and crushed peas are perfect together as lamb loves mint, and I'm remembering Roast lamb with the compulsory mint sauce during cooler weather.

I bought these lamb chops from a local butcher on the recommendation of a good friend who knows her meat, and they didn't disappoint. They were finger lickin' good, right down to the bone. I love a perfectly cooked lamb chop, where every single morsel gets eaten, except for the bone. We cooked ours outdoors on a ridged grill pan over a gas flame next to the patio  Barbecue. The ridges gave the chops the chargrill effect and added lots of smoky flavours.

Ingredients:

542 calories

Serves 2 and quantities easily increased to serve more hungry BBQ and dinner table buddies

Lamb:

2 thick lamb loin chops, or whatever type of chops you prefer, or even 4 smaller lamb cutlets

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and ground black pepper

Cooking the lamb:

Massage the oil into the lamb chops and season both sides well with salt and ground black pepper.

Heat the grill pan, griddle, barbecue or frypan to a medium-high heat and cook the chops 3-5 minutes on each side, depending on how thick they are. Or done to a turn, as you like them.

Ingredients for the crushed minted peas and feta

200g frozen peas

1tbsp olive oil

15g pine nuts, toasted (See below)

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced (optional for non chilli lovers)

10g fresh mint, leaves finely chopped

50g feta cheese

Method for making the minted peas:

Third fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. 

Tip in the peas and cook them for 3 minutes. Drain them and return to the pan and mash them lightly. 

Add the toasted pine nuts, olive oil, and chilli and give a stir.

Sprinkle with the chopped mint, and crumble the feta on top of this glorious green mixture. 

Season away with lots of black pepper and a pinch of salt and toss lightly.

I couldn't help myself and also added a slight squeeze of fresh lemon juice on top. The fresh acidity topped it off beautifully, but it's not essential at all, and I haven't added lemon to the list of essential ingredients. 

To serve, place the crushed minted peas to the side of your plate, and position the lamb chops nearby. A segment of fresh lemon would also add some extra appeal.

To toast the pine nuts:

Scatter the pine nuts into small non-stick frypan. It's the same one I cook an omelette in, and dry fry those nuts over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Stir them frequently with a non-metal spoon, until lightly browned. Please don't leave your post at the stove, if when losing patience you think they are browning very slowly. Pine nuts are the easiest thing in the whole world to burn, take it from me, the process happens very quickly. Mr. HRK has been known to patiently pick out the odd burnt pine nuts when we have become distracted away from the task in hand. Tip them onto a plate to cool and set aside. Please see *Cook's notes for a tip about this. 

I need to mention that this is a recipe by Dr. Claire Bailey and Justine Pattison, from the fast 800 recipe book, yes again. I'm pulling out the recipes that really appeal to me from their books and giving them my tropical twist. With Christmas food and festivities only 4 weeks away, I am watching the calories during the week at home, but we are still eating delicious food, never boring. The "silly season" is about to begin as well.

Cooks notes:

• It pays to always have a bag of frozen peas lurking in the freezer. They are such a versatile vegetable.
• This recipe is particularly written for but not exclusive to my Aussie friends and readers currently living through a very hot summer. However, wherever you live, this dish is perfectly balanced and so delicious. 

• *Because browning pine nuts is something of fiddly job in small batches for a particular dish, I keep a jar of browned pine nuts in the refrigerator. Easy peasy, pine nuts ready in a jiffy.

My mouth has been watering as I write up this recipe. I cooked this dish over a week ago, and already I need some more lamb. I love it.

It's the middle of the day as I write this, temperatures of up to 38 degrees C are expected again today, so the air-conditioning is turned on, and soon it will be time for a lunch of cold chicken and salad in the cool.

Warm wishes to you all and thanks for dropping by,

Pauline